By Chris J. Starrs<\/p>\n
ATHENS, Georgia, March 18. ALTHOUGH Georgia came into the final day of the 2006 NCAA Women\u2019s Division I Swimming and Diving Championships with a 53-point lead, Auburn and Arizona are not throwing in the towel, as evidenced by the results of this morning\u2019s preliminaries at the Gabrielsen Natatorium on the campus of the University of Georgia.<\/p>\n
With five events completed, No. 2 Auburn, which came into today\u2019s preliminaries with 326 points to the No. 1 Bulldogs\u2019 379 points, qualified six swimmers and one relay team for today\u2019s finals, which begin at 7 p.m. (EST). Arizona, trailing both Georgia and Auburn with 315 points, qualified three swimmers and one relay team.<\/p>\n
Defending national champion Georgia showed no signs of relinquishing its advantage, however, qualifying five swimmers and one relay team for this evening\u2019s showdown. Jack Bauerle\u2019s Bulldogs have won 50 consecutive dual meets at home and captured the national title here in 1999.<\/p>\n
The national championship has belonged to either Georgia or Auburn since the late 1990s. Georgia won the title in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005 while Auburn captured the crown in 2002, 2003 and 2004.<\/p>\n
In today\u2019s opening preliminary event, California\u2019s Helen Silver finished first in the 200-yard backstroke in a time of 1:54.52, besting Kelly Harrigan of Rutgers (1:55.45), Georgia\u2019s Putra Aleksandra (1:55.55), Auburn\u2019s Rachel Goh (1:55.61) and Jeri Moss (1:55.79), Wisconsin\u2019s Susan Johnson (1:55.80), Elizabeth Wycliffe of Texas (1:55.91) and Virginia\u2019s Brielle White (1:56.30).<\/p>\n
In the next event, Georgia\u2019s Kara Lynn Joyce put herself in position to win her third consecutive 100-yard freestyle title by coming in first in the preliminaries in a time of 48.31, but Auburn and Arizona seem to be in good position to pick up points with two qualifiers apiece. Joyce was followed by California\u2019s Emily Silver (48.48), Arizona\u2019s Lacey Nymeyer (48.52), Kentucky\u2019s Jenny Bradford (48.53), Southern Cal\u2019s Rhiannon Jeffrey (48.60), Auburn\u2019s Emily Kukors (48.67), Arizona\u2019s Courtney Cashion (48.76) and Auburn\u2019s Kara Denby (48.78).<\/p>\n
In the 200-yard breaststroke, Georgia\u2019s Sarah Poewe finished first in a time of 2:11.57, with Stanford\u2019s Kristen Caverly and Southern Cal\u2019s Rebecca Soni both finishing second at 2:11.86. They were followed by Yi Ting Siow of Wisconsin (2:12.19), Auburn\u2019s Alicia Jensen (2:12.37), Florida Atlantic\u2019s Ellie Weberg (2:12.86), Florida\u2019s Vipa Bernhardt (2:13.03) and Auburn\u2019s Lauren Duerk (2:13.11).<\/p>\n
Georgia\u2019s Mary DeScenza finished first in the 200-yard butterfly in a time of 1:55.35, giving herself an excellent shot at capturing her fourth consecutive national title in the event, which would tie her with Mary T. Meagher, who won the event from 1983-86. DeScenza, who came into today\u2019s event with three titles in this championship and 11 crowns overall, was followed by Arizona\u2019s Whitney Myers (1:55.97), Kimberly Vandenberg of UCLA (1:56.57), California\u2019s Rachel Ridgeway (1:56.94), Florida\u2019s Candace Weiman (1:56.96), Georgia\u2019s Elizabeth Hill (1:57.31), Saori Haruguchi of Oregon State (1:57.71) and Ohio State\u2019s Gulsah Gunenc (1:57.78).<\/p>\n
Georgia has won the 400-yard freestyle relay for the past two years, but Auburn\u2019s relay team \u2013 Margo McCawley, Emily Kukors, Kara Denby and Jana Kolukanova \u2013 made a statement that they\u2019d have to be dealt with as they finished first in the preliminaries in a time of 3:16.54, just a touch ahead of Georgia\u2019s 3:16.57 finish. Auburn and Georgia were trailed by Arizona (3:17.20), SMU (3:17.90), Texas A&M (3:18.70), California (3:18.96), Texas (3:19.56) and Wisconsin (3:19.79).<\/p>\n
Platform diving was being held in the early afternoon today and the 1,650-yard freestyle heats are set to begin at 4:35 p.m. (EST), with the final heat set for 7 p.m. (EST).<\/p>\n